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- #31
- Oct 3, 2010
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Thanks, chkn. I'm a psych nurse, so medical issues won't be what I deal with, unfortunately for my chickens! My husband said the same thing - that if we don't even try, this is going to keep happening and we'll never know what to do and how to heal them. But I just can't see putting any individual through suffering for the hypothetical future benefit of others.
Also, if we had caught this right when it happened, before the guts came into contact with the ground, maybe, just maybe, there would have been a point to it. But given the condition her guts were in, I should never have agreed to try. There was just so much dirt that it took us 2 hours to just get the dirt off and although the intestine itself is not ruptured, the outer membrane is. And it's not like the hernia is repaired - all we were able to do is push the 2 loops of intestine back into the hernia. In an ideal world, we would have been able to afford to take her to an avian vet (of which there are none around here) as soon as we noticed the hernia a year ago, and the vet would have surgically repaired the hernia. But this way - no, too much damage and almost certain infection down the road.
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7991255&p=402479 "The vet advised us that there is no need to do anything in our hen's case, as it is not bothering her at all. If it starts to bother her (e.g. if she pecks at it, or if it starts to drag on the ground) then she can have surgery (about $400) to put the intestines back and sew up the hole in the muscles. Sometimes the surgery doesn't work though, and the longer you leave it the greater the chance of it failing. We have decided to leave it for now and let her get on with her life. "
As to killing her, I'm not squeamish. I'll do whatever needs to be done. I've always believed that a quick death is better than protracted suffering.
Thanks, chkn. I'm a psych nurse, so medical issues won't be what I deal with, unfortunately for my chickens! My husband said the same thing - that if we don't even try, this is going to keep happening and we'll never know what to do and how to heal them. But I just can't see putting any individual through suffering for the hypothetical future benefit of others.
Also, if we had caught this right when it happened, before the guts came into contact with the ground, maybe, just maybe, there would have been a point to it. But given the condition her guts were in, I should never have agreed to try. There was just so much dirt that it took us 2 hours to just get the dirt off and although the intestine itself is not ruptured, the outer membrane is. And it's not like the hernia is repaired - all we were able to do is push the 2 loops of intestine back into the hernia. In an ideal world, we would have been able to afford to take her to an avian vet (of which there are none around here) as soon as we noticed the hernia a year ago, and the vet would have surgically repaired the hernia. But this way - no, too much damage and almost certain infection down the road.
http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7991255&p=402479 "The vet advised us that there is no need to do anything in our hen's case, as it is not bothering her at all. If it starts to bother her (e.g. if she pecks at it, or if it starts to drag on the ground) then she can have surgery (about $400) to put the intestines back and sew up the hole in the muscles. Sometimes the surgery doesn't work though, and the longer you leave it the greater the chance of it failing. We have decided to leave it for now and let her get on with her life. "
As to killing her, I'm not squeamish. I'll do whatever needs to be done. I've always believed that a quick death is better than protracted suffering.